The release of the first full-length album by the Band of Holy Joy gave rise to much critical acclaim by the U.K. music press. Unfortunately for the band, this praise never translated into customer sales. An intensely emotional album, even for the manic-depressive Holy Joy, the arrangement of More Tales... is dictated by the tackiest keyboards and drum machines, combined with violins, trombones, and a big, bass drum. Musically, the tempo ranges from the delicate "When Stars Came Out to Play," a song based on London's troubled Angeltown estate, to the chaotic "Mad Dot," or sometimes both (witness the schizophrenic "Leaves That Fall in Spring"). Filled with longing, singer/lyricist Johny Brown relates tales of obsessive love (as best illustrated by the distressing "Fishwives") and nostalgia for times, friends, and lovers that have now said goodbye, but are still very sadly missed. Emotions have never been so raw as on this album.